Anthropic is building its business empire with one hand on the keyboard and the other in Washington. Its core bet - that coding prowess is the fastest path to advanced AI - is paying off, reportedly adding $6 billion to its annual run rate in a single month. But on *All-In*, David Sacks warns the technical lead is only half the story. He accuses the company of actively lobbying for a permissioning regime that would require government approval to release new models or sell chips, a move designed to cement its advantage and box out startups.
This regulatory push complements a staggering technical advance. As confirmed on *The AI Daily Brief*, Anthropic has developed Claude Mythos, a model it calls a “step change” in performance, particularly for coding and cybersecurity. By restricting early access to security researchers, Anthropic is cautiously deploying a weapon that could further entrench its lead in the lucrative enterprise developer market.
David Sacks, All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg:
- Anthropic is sort of the most AGI-pilled of all the frontier labs.
- They made this bet on coding as their way to get to recursive self-improvement.
The market is cleaving in two. As Chamath Palihapitiya notes, OpenAI’s revenue is predominantly from consumer subscriptions, while Anthropic’s is almost the exact opposite - heavily weighted toward its API and enterprise tools. They are not yet in direct competition but are fortifying parallel kingdoms. Anthropic’ perceived political leanings, suggested by David Friedberg, act as a cultural moat, attracting a talent pool that aligns with its stance.
Meanwhile, OpenAI is retreating from riskier frontiers, shelving an adult mode after safety failures, to double down on the same enterprise and coding battlefields where Anthropic excels. The strategic convergence hints at the coming showdown, accelerated by the race to an IPO. Anthropic is rumored to be targeting a public listing as early as October, with Sam Altman wanting OpenAI to go first.
The playbook is clear: establish technical dominance in a high-value niche, then use policy to raise the drawbridge behind you. For Anthropic, coding isn’t just a feature - it’s the foundation of a moat it’s now fortifying with regulation.
